That is what is making things difficult for an archaeology team as it examines the original Socorro Mission site for the remains of a Native American village, a lost cemetery or anything else that "belongs in a museum."

The Texas Historical Commission sent the team this week to Socorro to see if the old Socorro Mission site can be expanded, and protected, by any discovery the team can make.

Tiffany Osburn, regional archaeologist for the commission, said the investigation began Tuesday and is confined to 16 acres of land on the 300 block of Buford Road, where the original Socorro Mission was built in 1691.

"I'm a little concerned that deep plowing over the years has occurred and affected anything that is buried," Osburn said. "It's our hope that there are walls and maybe some pottery still preserved."

Advertisement

While in the movies, the fictional Jones would use whips and fisticuffs to discover artifacts, Osburn is using a ground-penetrating radar and magnetometer to search for any signs of a buried village or cemetery, including headstones or pottery.

They will take some dirt samples to see if parts of the land match the time when the mission was built.

REPORTER

Aaron Bracamontes

About 1.4 acres of the site is protected as a historic location. That is where archaeologist Rex Gerald and a group of students from the University of Texas at El Paso found artifacts and 16 corpses in the early 1980s.

This time around, Osburn said they are looking for the Piro Pueblo village that the mission used to serve, as well as the cemetery, or campo santo.

"The Piro's had villages in Socorro, N.M., and we know what those look like, but we don't know if they had similar structure style here," Osburn said. "And the cemetery was never found and it was supposed to be next to the mission."

Pat Mercado-Allinger, division director for the Texas Historical Commission's archaeology division, said the limited investigation is meant to get a better understanding of the character of the old Socorro Mission.

"It's just to get a better handle on the nature of the site and any associated ramifications," she said. "We have continued to be interested in that site because it's obviously very important and we just feel like we need to get more firsthand information."

If the commission can find anything, it can expand the protection the land receives from the state.

"Maybe we can fence it in or make it a little more enclosed," Osburn said. "If you have a cemetery, you want to have it marked out."

The original Socorro Mission was built in 1691, according to the El Paso Mission Trail Association, but was destroyed in a flood in the 1740s. A second mission was washed away again by a flooding river in 1828.

The current Socorro Mission, at 328 South Nevarez, was built in 1843.

The land where the original mission was built became part of the Ledesma family's property, Joe Ledesma said.

"This was my father's land, and I inherited it," said Ledesma, 80. "He always said there was a mission out there."

In the 1980s, Ledesma allowed Gerald and UTEP students to dig on the land, and they found remains of the mission, including pieces of the original walls, the altar and 16 human skeletons.

Some of the artifacts were taken to a museum in San Antonio, while others remain at UTEP. A skeleton was loaned to Texas A&M University for research.

Ledesma also kept some artifacts, which he said belonged to the Piro Indians and the conquistadors who arrived in the Socorro area in the 1600s.

In the late 1980s, the city of Socorro refused to turn the land into a historical park, Ledesma said. Ever since then Ledesma and his wife have done their best to protect the land from horse riders and motorbikes.

In 2011, the city of Socorro tried to buy Ledesma's land to expand Bulldog Championship Park, but the Texas Historical Commission stepped in because the land might be considered a historical site. Socorro has since abandoned its plans.

"They have been watchdogs," Osburn said of the Ledesma family. "We will try to honor their efforts."

The heavy digging will be done today with a backhoe that is being lent to the team by El Paso County.

Osburn said they will dig four or five trenches so they can gather the dirt samples they need and then cover it back up.

"We need to evaluate the sand to see if it is from the right time frame," Osburn said.

The team will leave this week and return to Socorro in the next few months to continue its investigation.